In Independence Day Prayer, Rep. Broun Compares Progressives To Terrorists Who "Want To Destroy Us"

July 05, 2011 12:40 pm ET —
Matt Finkelstein

On the Fourth of July, many lawmakers set aside partisan
disagreements in favor of sweepingtributes
to American freedom. But not Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), who couldn't keep his abhorrence of Americans who
disagree with his political views out of his invocation at a barbecue hosted by the
Cobb County GOP. As the Marietta
Daily Journal reports, Broun told attendees that America is "staring down
in the deep chasm of socialism and total government control" thanks to
progressives who "want to destroy us from the inside."

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens), who delivered the invocation,
warned about the future of the U.S.

"We're standing on the precipice, staring
down in the deep chasm of socialism and total government control," Broun
said. [...]

There
are those who wish to destroy the U.S., Broun said, citing radical Islam and
"progressives."

"Father,
there are many who want to destroy us from outside this nation," Broun
said. "Folks like al-Qaeda and the radical Islamists. But there are folks
that want to destroy us from inside, the progressives and the socialists, who
want to make this nation a nation that's no longer under you, under God, but a
nation that's ruled by man."

This kind of
rhetoric is typical of Broun, who has previously warned of an Obama
dictatorship, called FDR a communist, and compared health care reform to the
"Great War of Yankee Aggression." Nevertheless, Broun's latest attack on
progressive Americans is particularly offensive considering the setting in
which it was delivered.